For some people, nothing beats watching a live musician play right in front of you. The warm ambience of the venue, being shoulder to shoulder with other showgoers and the visible excitement in the room can be something special.
Karl Salingua is one of those people. He’s a local musician and proud regular of the Blues Can, a live music venue that’s soon being forced to close its doors sometime this fall for city redevelopment.
A number of independent music venues — including Mikey’s on 12th, Blind Beggar, and Tubby Dog — closed their doors over the last couple of years. Several establishments are being evicted to make way for city redevelopment, giving the boot to live music legacies and making some locals feel unsure of the city’s live music future.
“It just seems like there’s not much of a priority in the music scene and the culture,” Salingua says. “It looks like Calgary prioritizes into apartment buildings and the capital of making money as opposed to maintaining and further investing into the music scene.”
The recent pandemic also played a significant role in slowing the music scene down in the city, with venues being forced to close their doors for the duration of lockdowns and social distancing causing a significant slowdown in certain establishments.
“Certain music venues aren’t as free or not as busy as they used to be pre-pandemic,” Salingua says. “It might be too extreme to say that COVID crippled the business of these live music venues, but it definitely did have an effect.”
Trevor Dean Smith, the general manager at Mikey’s Juke Joint, also considers the local music scene an integral part of the community that stretches across the province. In charge of most of the music booking at the restaurant, Smith has had plenty of time to meet and watch bands from all over come to perform at his work, which is a core component of the restaurant’s appeal.
“I love the Edmonton and Calgary rivalry in terms of sports, but in terms of music, I’ve really gotten to know a lot of Edmonton artists, and I really do consider it an Alberta music scene,” Smith says. “They take very good care of our Calgary artists up there, and we try to do the same down here.”
Since its foundation, Mikey’s Juke Joint has had several locations, and all have been forced to relocate for city development. The most recent move of the restaurant to their Bowness location has left both staff and patrons confused about what the future holds for live music in the city, especially in venues that have such significant community ties.
“I think the city and the province need to do more, and there needs to be some sort of nurturing,” Smith says. “I think there needs to be a little bit more incentive to make these music venues viable, so they don’t have to be shutting down and moving.”
The Calgary music scene is a special and important creative outlet that Salingua and Smith hope to preserve and see grow in the future.
“I think Calgary has a very unique identity, and Calgary in a way has its own voice, and I think a healthy music scene is important in expressing that voice,” Salingua says. “By having these music venues close down, it kind of quietens Calgary’s voice.”